August 1st has brought into force an amendment to the road law which aims
to simplify the penal points system in place by being more tolerant of
minor offenses while increasing punishment for dangerous driving. The new
measures are the second phase of a reform aimed at making Czech roads
safer.

June of 2006 brought what was described as a revolution on Czech roads –
a penal points system aiming to deal primarily with hazardous drivers and
repeat offenders. Over those five years 33,000 Czech drivers had their
drivers licenses confiscated as a result of the new law and the police have
reported a drop both in the number of road deaths and serious accidents.
However with over 750 road deaths in 2010 and close to 3,000 serious
injuries that year the country still has a big problem.

The newly introduced amendment to the penal points system targets the main
reasons behind the still high death toll – excessive speeding, drink
driving and risky overtaking. While 17 lighter offenses have been dropped
from the penal points system altogether and will now only be punishable by
a fine, offenses considered a serious threat to road safety will get a
higher number of penal points – excessive speeding and risky overtaking
can get offenders five points out of an overall 12. Not using a safety belt
–a frequent oversight - has seen an increase from two to three points in
adults and four points if a child is found to be travelling without a
safety belt.

Whether or not the new amendment should introduce some degree of alcohol
tolerance in a nation of recognized beer lovers caused a stormy debate in
Parliament. In the end the policy of zero-tolerance continues, although
drivers with a low alcohol content in their blood –below 0,3 percent –
will only be fined while those with anything above that stand to lose up to
seven points.

A new measure which aims to target speeding is the removal of road signs
alerting drivers to the presence of a police radar ahead. Although the
police can still put up such signs at high risk stretches of the road as a
preventative measure they will be able to use radars anywhere. Exceeding
the speed limit by up to five kilometres in municipalities and by up to ten
on the highway can be punished by a fine of up to 2,500 crowns, anything
above that is punishable by the loss of up to five points.

If they are dubious regarding the technical state of a vehicle traffic
police can order a driver to get an immediate check up on condition that a
facility providing the service is located no further than 4 kilometres
away.

And the amendment has finally addressed another problem plaguing traffic
police – the notorious road races. While in the past Czech police had
little clout in dealing with the matter which was in sharp contrast with
the state of affairs in neighbouring Germany for instance, now even the
mere suspicion that a driver is taking part in such a road race can result
in the confiscation of the respective vehicle for up to 48 hours.

The basic rule remains: on getting 12 points a driver is stripped of his
or her license for a year and needs to undergo psychological assessment
tests to get it back. On the other hand a year free of transgressions will
make them eligible to get four points deleted. In the past 5 years that the
penalty points the system has been in force over 33,000 drivers were
stripped of their license, of those 1720 were women. Eighty percent of
those who got penalized got penalized only once. 5.8 million drivers still
have a clean record.